Far from being a one-trick-pony, Sigh are a pony that likes to make a new avant-garde trick each time. A short summary of the direction on Shiki would be “trip-hop infused doom metal with thrash freakouts”. Though the doom sound harkens back to albums like Infidel Art (as the artwork suggests) and Scenario IV: Dread Dreams, what makes Shiki stand out a bit is the back and forth between this influence and the thrash metal. The theme of the album has been explained in the lead up to release as being about the fear of growing old and dying, with main man Mirai Kawashima speaking about his thoughts about watching the sakura-season each year and wondering how many times there’s left before the end. I can certainly hear this in some of the lyrics (though my Japanese is very rusty from disuse) but the music struggles to reflect this feeling even with a direction towards doom metal.
Shiki follows the path that Heir to Despair walked before it in reaching for a simpler and stripped down heavy metal sound. With this direction, the songwriting becomes important as there are fewer tricks to hide behind. Unfortunately, I find that Shiki does not fare as well as Heir to Despair on those terms. This album sounds at once simple yet also wanting to break free from the mold with some of its weirder segments. When it hits, as on “Satsui – Geshi No Ato” and “Mayonaka No Kaii”, the regular Sigh magic comes forth. But at worst this album sounds too minimalist, with all the lush detail and ideas of albums like Scenes From Hell and In Somniphobia feeling like a phantom limb that should be there. The album is enjoyable enough and I will probably revisit it to see if it grows on me, but for the first time in my experience, a Sigh release is dulled by the weight of expectation.
This being one of my favorite bands, I’m a bit disappointed with this release but I can always look back at the wealth of great material Sigh have provided us from Gallows Gallery forward (and some even before that). As per Mirai‘s instagram, no man, I think this album is OK. Imaginary Soniscape is one of your worst albums. And I’ll be looking forward to next time (explore that trip-hop influence!).
